Daily Times

Pakistan’s orphaned tourism sector has suffered a huge decline in the last seven years, thanks to the abruptly done 18th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment had been unanimously passed by the Parliament and notified in the Gazette of Pakistan on April 20, 2010. Tourism was one of the subjects devolved, along with culture, youth, environment, and health, without envisaging the implications for the country’s national and international obligations related to these sectors.

However, the federal government established ministries of health regulation, climate change, and national heritage, keeping in view the importance of health and environment in meeting relevant international commitments. No wisdom was seen in harnessing the huge potential of tourism and culture sectors. We could not even see and learn from examples of Malaysia and Thailand where tourism sector has been the main contributor to national economies.

The orphaned tourism sector remains neglected even today. There has been no promotion of Pakistan as a destination country in the international arena. We don’t see any national or international campaign for the purpose. Provinces and regions seem to be quite ignorant of the economic potential of their tourism sectors. Perhaps they have no stakes in promoting tourism or they lack capacity and vigour to do so. Yet, they were quite active and enthusiastic about taking over properties from the federal government following the tourism sector’s devolution. Most of these properties were owned by the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) and the federal Archaeology department. Some provinces could take over these properties successfully, and some could not.

No one knows who shall represent Pakistan on relevant international forums. So, no one has dared to take any step to represent Pakistan in the international tourism market since the passage of the 18th Amendment. The efforts of provinces remain confined to their territories, with some efforts to promote local tourism. The last national tourism policy was launched in January 2010. It got buried just three months later because of the promulgation of the 18th Amendment. Everything related to tourism and culture sectors is muddled up since then. Many nations have prospered on account of tourism and cultural economy by promoting and marketing these sectors internationally.

Our neighbouring country Nepal hosted as many as 729,550 foreign tourists in 2016, according to the Nepal Department of Immigration — an increase of 24 per cent as compared to 2015. A total of 554,747 tourists had visited Nepal in 2015.

Over two million tourists arrived in Sri Lanka last year, contributing US$ 2.75 billion to the government revenue in the first ten months of 2016. The country saw a 14 per cent rise in number of tourist that year with the arrival of 2,050,832 visitors. This was lower than the target of 2.2 million for the year. Sri Lanka’s Tourism Authority has set a target of 2.5 million tourist arrivals for 2017.

Tourism sector in India is economically important and is growing rapidly. The World Travel and Tourism Council calculated that tourism generated US$220 billion or 9.6 per cent of India’s GDP in 2016 and supported 40.343 million jobs — 9.3 per cent of its total employment. The sector is predicted to grow at an annual rate of 6.8 per cent by 2027 — equivalent to 10 per cent of its GDP. In October 2015, India’s medical tourism sector was estimated to be worth US$3 billion. It is projected to grow to $7–8 billion by 2020.

I have cited examples of three South Asian economies — Nepal, Sri Lanka, and India. They share similarities with us but unlike us their tourism sectors are thriving. None of them has decentralised or devolved their tourism and culture sectors. Rather, they have evolved tourism-friendly policies, followed by adequate investments in infrastructure and immense facilitation of visa processing. They are not scared of any national security breach. Why are we so frightened and nervous about welcoming tourists, mountaineers and trekkers? Will they jeopardise our security if issued with the necessary visa to come to Pakistan? Believe me, those who threaten our national security and integrity don’t need our visas to enter the country.

The writer is an Islamabad-based public policy and outreach expert. He can be reached at devcom.pakistan@gmail.com. He tweets @EmmayeSyed